What are the symptoms of depression and is it possible for it to last several months and still be aware of it?

Answer 1

Depression can last years, its not the sort of thing you can get over in a few days!

Symptoms vary from person to person but can include difficulty sleeping, feeling of hopelessness, tired, lethargic, tearful, emotionless,and many more

Answer 2

I was diagnosed with depression 3 years ago.
My symptoms were fatigue, panic attacks, a feeling of sadness,
weight loss, scared all the time and not wanting to leave the house. This lasted about a month until I found out what was wrong with me and I got help. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Symptoms vary greatly from one person to the next, but can include, great sadness, apathy, physical fatigue and pain, lack of desire to do what you usually enjoy.
There are two types of depression, one is situational and is caused by trauma, physical or emotional, and will pass, tho depending on the the cause can last for as long as a year. The other most common type is endogenous depression, caused by a lack of neurochemicals and requires a lifetime of medications and behavioral therapy to control.

Answer 4

Symptoms vary from person to person, but usually include altered sleep patterns (could be more or less than usual), feelings of hopelessness....can't remember anything good, can't look forward to anything, things seem increasingly pointless, no energy (to the point that if someone said you had to walk across the room to receive a million pounds, you couldn't be bothered), disturbed eating patterns and feelings of self disgust. these feelings need to persist for several weeks before you begin to think about depression.

I was ill for 2 years before I realised that something was wrong......however once treatment starts (and this could include medicine, counselling and exercise) it is normally treatable and patients start to feel better within a few weeks.

But (if this is you) you must get to a doctor and remember you may be ill but you will feel better..............

Answer 5

symptoms are lack of concentration, poor memory, feeling really tired, waking up early, general lack of interest in things you normally enjoy. Your appetite is also affected. You can have these symptoms for ages, especially if you do not seek any help for it. If you are suffering you are best to see your doctor for anti-depressants or counselling. Good luck.

Answer 6

if you feel that you just can't cope anymore and that nothing is worth bothering with then the chances are that you are feeling depressed. there are many degrees of it and it does seem to run in family's. i went through a spell of feeling i had no control over my life and everything made me so angry! i would cry over the slightest thing.
i eventually went to a hypnotist who taught me how to calm my self down and also that i had learn to relax, i know this sounds daft but it worked for me and i have a history of depression in my family.

Answer 7

I've been suffering with depression for 2 + years on and off medication. Constant sadness, anger, hopelessness, no motivation, no interests, moodiness, feeling stuck, basically every bad feeling you have ever felt in life stays with you and doesn't really lift.

Answer 8

Feeling that life is pointless, that you have no joy in it, no worth to anyone, always being in the wrong. Getting irritable or angry over minor upsets and frustrations with things or people who always seem to have life easier than you and at your expense or are constantly in your way. Waking up in the night with problems going round and round in your head and getting increasingly magnified and unsolvable by the minute.
I was experiencing a lot of these things and when the doctor suggested that she thought I was depressed it made me feel even more of a failure. It still took a while before I felt ready to ask for help. I belived I should be able to pull myself out of it and should stop feeling sorry for myself. Eventually I asked the doctor what she thought about St Johns Wort as I could get that without prescription and it somehow didn't seem as bad as needing "proper" medicine. She suggested a course of Prozac would be better for mild to moderate depression which I had. Prozac was called "Happy Pills" in those days and someone on tv had said that everyone should take it, so I agreed to take it.
At first it was great. I no longer got would up by such things as other motorists doing 35mph on 50 road, regardless of the long queue behind them unable to overtake.
After several weeks or months however I began to get unpleasant side effects such as sleeplessness and perhaps worse, restless legs syndrome when sitting watching tv. After about six months the doctor agreed that I could come off the drug as my general mood had lifted. That was six years ago and I have survived since without anything.
I would say that for me, medication did what it set out to, ie it gave me a lift and helped me to realise that life wasn't so bad after all. While I still sometimes get depressed, it is not as deeply as before and I am able to tell myself that the mood will pass and I will come through it. And sure enough, I do.
So if you are at the stage where you feel unable to cope and it has gone on like that for more than a few weeks or months, seek your doctor's advice about a course of antidepressants and see if it helps. It isn't necessarily true that once on them you will always need them and that you will gradually need stronger and stronger ones, which is what I feared. Some people do. To name drop, I met Claire Rayner once and she told me that some people have a chemical inbalance that causes depression and requires drugs to redress it. She added that they needn't feel guilty if that was the case, pointing out that if they had diabetes (or whatever) and needed treatment, they wouldn't hestitate to have it. Being on anti-depressants should be regarded in the same light. Take that as you will.
My beautiful intelligent 32 year old daughter has needed them since her university days and couldn't survive without. She holds down a demanding job as Head of History at a Secondary Modern School and teaches full time. She probably needs more "duvet days" than some people and suffers with lack of self esteem, but she does valuable work both in teaching and in helping students with personal problems, some of which would make yours and mine seem trivial to say the least.
Counselling is good if you find the right Counsellor, one you feel comfortable with and can relate to, but if you have to pay for it and need it for any length of time, it isn't cheap. For me, being a Christian helps as I believe there is someone who cares for me more than anyone else regardless and who gives me a sense of purpose.
Whatever you think, don't despair. You can see from the sheer volume of answers here that you are not alone. Depression is very common, so don't feel bad about it. Accepting it is the frst step to getting better. Seeking help the second and forming a plan of action the third. I'll leave you to decide what the fourth is.
Sorry for the long answer and if you are still reading, thankyou...
With kind regards to you from me.

Answer 9

i had a friend who was suffering from depression and her symptoms were always doing to much always being accupied with something , angry sad happy mood swings and she refused to eat at a regular basis. also she said that after awhile she was sore that her body was hurting. i dont know if this helps but let me know

Answer 10

Maybe so.

have a look at how some people overcame it completely.

http://www.uckg.org/Case-studies/carol-ann-kelly.php
http://www.uckg.org/Case-studies/mr-mrs-gouvea.php
http://www.uckg.org/Case-studies/andrea-reid.php